Strawberry Cobbler

Another simple but oh so delicious summer recipe that is perfect for using fresh and local berries! My first time making a cobbler, I was pleasantly surprised how yummy it is! I will definitely be making it again using other fruits like cherries, or the classic, peaches!

Strawberry Cobbler

• 90 g butter, soft
• 1 egg
• 100 g white spelt flour
• 60 g plus 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 400 g strawberries, in slices

-Grease a 5 x 9-inch (13 x 23 cm) baking dish with butter. Preheat oven to 375 F.

-Mix together strawberries and honey and fill into baking dish.

-In a mixer or by hand, whisk the butter and honey until creamy, add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and add to the butter mix, stir until well combined.

-Spoon dough evenly over strawberries, covering completely.

-Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

-Delicious while still warm.

Enjoy!

Ursula

xox

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Blueberry-Crumble-Cake

Happy Weekend!

I hope you are all staying safe! I apologize for not beeing very active here on my blog, I am regularly posting on Instagram, so I hope you will join me there as well!

It’s been very hot and humid here, we’ve had some much needed rain and everything in our garden is growing nicely.

This Blueberry-Crumble-Cake is so delicious! Perfect for blueberry season or you can use frozen berries as well. I love the crumble topping!

Blueberry-Crumble-Cake

For the crumbles:

• 80 g ground almonds
• 3 tbsp coconut sugar
• 40 g butter, cold cut into small pieces

For the cake:

• 150 g butter, soft
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150 g creamed honey
• pinch salt
• 4 eggs
• 250 g spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 350 g blueberries, fresh or frozen

-Prepare a 24 cm Springform, line the bottom with parchment paper.

-Preheat oven to 350 F.

-Mix all ingredients for the crumbles, works best using your hands, set aside.

-Combine butter, vanilla extract, honey and salt, whisk well. Add eggs one at the time. Stir in flour and baking powder until well combined.

-Fill into prepared baking form, add blueberries and top with the crumbles.

– Bake in preheated oven for about 50 minutes.

– Let cool a bit before removing from baking form.

Enjoy!

Ursula 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Tarts

Summer is just around the corner, we already had a few hot days. I’m looking forward to all the seasonal fruit and veggies growing here in Ontario, especially all the delicious berries!

For my birthday, beginning of June, I’ve made the Strawberry-Coconut-Cake:  Strawberry-Coconut-Cake

One if my favorite strawberry desserts are these yummy and pretty strawberry tarts. It’s a staple in every bakery in Switzerland, that’s usually what I would pick out!

First you need to prebake the tart shells.  I used a mix of ground almonds and shredded coconut to give it a bit of a different taste, it was really good! The cooled tart shells can be filled with custard or just simply with sweetened whipped cream! Topped with Strawberries and glazed with warmed jelly.

Strawberry Tarts

For the tart shells:

• 125 g spelt flour
• pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 50 g butter, cold, cut in little pieces
• 50 g ground almonds
• 40 g shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-Mix flour and salt, add butter and mix like a pie dough until it resembles fine crumbs. Combine with the almonds and coconut. Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and egg, stir first and then knead only until soft dough forms.

– Let rest in refrigerator for at least one hour.

-Between plastic wrap roll out dough thinly, cut out circles to fit into muffin form.

-Press dough into greased muffin form, prick bottom with a fork.

– Bake in preheated 350 F (convection oven), for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely.

Filling and garnish:

– Fill tarts with a vanilla custard or just simply with whipped cream, I used 1 cup of cream, sweetened with 2-3 tbsp of honey and added 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

-Top with Strawberry halves. Optional step is to brush the berries with a jelly glaze. I used warmed up red currant jelly.

Enjoy!

 

Happy June and stay safe and healthy!

Ursula 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raspberry Coconut Tarts

Happy Sunday everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! It is still very hot here and we are trying to stay cool. My daughter and I spent an afternoon a the beach this week, that was very nice and relaxing! The water is very cold, I only put my feet in, lol;)

Huron Lake, Ontario, Canada

And we are picking raspberries in our garden!

I am not turning the stove on that much since it is to hot to do so. But I made these yummy raspberry coconut tarts. Filled with my coconut custard or just simply a vanilla pudding.

 

Raspberry Coconut Tarts

Tart shells:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup white spelt flour
• 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

-Whisk together the butter, honey and egg yolk. Add salt and vanilla. Stir in flour and coconut until well combined. It is a soft dough. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-Take the dough out of the fridge and using your hands, press dough into greased muffin form, prick with a fork. Makes about 6-8.

-Refrigerate for a few minutes.

-Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or golden brown.

-Let cool completely.

-Can be filled with my coconut custard: Coconut Custard mini tarts with mixed berries or a simple vanilla pudding. Prepare ahead as the filling need time to cool and set in the fridge.

-Fill tarts with custard, then top with fresh raspberries.

-Keep refrigerated.

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest Berries Meringue Pie/Waldbeeren Meringue Kuchen

Happy weekend everyone!!

While growing up in Switzerland, we used to spend a lot of time in the forest. With family or with school. They have nicely looked after hiking trails. There is just something calming and peaceful about it. We would also often look for and find a lot of blueberries and strawberries! Now these are sweet memories:)

I’ve had a lot of raspberries and we are still picking some strawberries in our garden. We used to have blackberries but after getting hurt (scratched) a lot, we had enough and we dug the plant out…but I tell you that is a stubborn plant, it keeps on growing back…My brother in Switzerland has a thorn-less blackberry plant!!! That is the most amazing thing. Haven’t seen this here so far.

For this berry pie I used a mix of what I like to call forest berries (Waldbeeren): blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Deliciously melt in your mouth meringue filling! Totally worth trying out! Feel free to use your favorite pie crust recipe.

 

 

 

 

Forest Berries Meringue Pie

Pie crust:

• 200 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100 g butter, cold, cut into very small pieces
• 2-3 tbsp honey
• 1/2 lemon, zest
• 1 egg

-Mix together flour and salt, add butter and with a pastry blender or your hands mix until crumbly.

-Add lemon zest, honey and egg. Knead only until it holds together. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

-Preheat oven to 375F/190C

-Grease a 9-inch pie form. Roll out dough to fit form. Prick dough with a fork. For blind baking I cover bottom with parchment paper, then as a weight I pour some legumes like dry chickpeas over paper. Bake for about 10 minutes then remove paper with legumes and lower oven temperature to 350F/180C and finish bake until golden brown.

Meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150 g sugar (I used honey)
• 500 g berries of your choice (I used blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)

-Beat egg whites with salt until peaks form, add half of the sugar, beat until shiny then add rest of sugar until stiff.

-Mix half of the meringue with the berries. Fill into baked pie crust. Then top with remaining meringue.

-Bake in 375F/190C oven for a few minutes until golden brown.

 

 

Hiking in the Swiss Alps 2016

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Wishing you all a happy weekend!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

Raspberry-Streusel-Muffins

Hello, happy weekend everyone!

I’m finally back with writing another recipe. I took a little break because my brother, with his family, were visiting for the last two weeks. The weather was pretty good, we went to Huron Lake for a swim, drove to the St. Jacobs Farmers Market, went Go-Kart driving and played mini-golf. Over the weekend we went to Niagara Falls, which is a three hour drive from home. They went now alone travelling to Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto before they’ll fly back home to Switzerland on Monday.

Our garden is doing very well this year. For now we have a lot of beans, red beets, salad, zucchini, swiss chard and now the first potatoes! Raspberries are done for the season and the following recipe was one of the desserts we’ve made.

 

 

 

Raspberry-Streusel-Muffins

Yields: 14

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 100 g butter, soft
• 175 g coconut sugar or regular sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 250 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150 ml buttermilk or non-dairy milk
• 200 g raspberries, fresh or frozen

-Separate eggs. Whisk together butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla sugar and salt.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-Whisk egg whites until stiff. Mix together flour and baking powder and fold in alternately with the milk and egg whites, to the butter mix. Gently fold in the raspberries (if using frozen berries you do not need to defrost them).

-Fill into prepared muffin forms, top with streusel if desired. Bake for about 35 minutes or until tester inserted comes out clean.

Tip: Streusel topping is optional but of course delicious! You can use about half or less of this streusel recipe: Peach-Crumble-Cake/ Pfirsich-Streuselkuchen

 

 

 

Huron Lake

 

Niagara Falls:

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coconut Custard mini tarts with mixed berries

Sometimes I just like to make mini desserts-they are just so cute and pretty. You can transform any regular size pie into mini tarts, of course it is a little bit more work, but it is totally worth it!

My family likes homemade pudding. I used to make it with regular milk and sugar but due to sensitivities I have to change recipes into dairy free versions. And I also like to stay away from refined sugar as much as possible. For the custard in this recipe I used coconut milk and honey to sweeten, and it turned out really great!

The tart shells are made with whole wheat flour. I definitely will try out some other flours, like spelt or kamut, in the future. They are healthy and easier to digest. I would love to hear what flours you use!!!

 

Tart shells

• 1 1/2cup      whole wheat flour
• 1/4cup         coconut oil, melted
• 4tbsp           maple syrup
• 1tsp              cinnamon
• pinch           sea salt
•                       water if mixture is to dry

-Mix ingredients and press into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350F/180C for about 10 minutes. Let cool in tins.

 

Coconut custard

• 1 1/2 tins    coconut milk
• 1/2cup        honey
• 4tbsp          cornstarch
• 1                   vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

-In a medium saucepan add coconut milk, stir in cornstarch and honey. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer and whisk until thickens. Remove from heat. Pour in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool. Refrigerate for about an hour.

-Spoon custard into tart shells and top with mixed berries, or any fruit, and toasted coconut if desired.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Creamy Almond-Coconut-Banana Drink with mixed Berries

Sometimes we just feel like eating or drinking something sweet. My Family definitely has a sweet tooth, I am guilty of that as well. That is why I often make some healthier versions of sweet treats to enjoy. And then I think it is okay to enjoy a piece of cake or something, once in a while. You can call it a Smoothie or a Drink. It is great for breakfast or like we did, for dessert! Dairy free with Almondmilk and Coconutmilk. Flax oil is a great source of Omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. Sunflowerseedbutter is rich in Iron, which I need to include in my diet as much as possible. Cinnamon and Turmeric are both anti-inflammatory and have many other healing properties.

• 500ml   Almondmilk
• 200ml   Coconutmilk
• 2tbsp     Sunflowerseedbutter
• 1tbsp     Flax oil
• 1             Banana
• 2tbsp     Maple Syrup
• 1/2tsp    Cinnamon
• 1/2tsp    Turmeric

-In a Blender mix everything until smooth.

• 1cup      mixed frozen Berries (Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blackberries)
• 2tbsp    Maple Syrup
• 2tbsp    Water

-In a small Saucepan bring Berries, Water and Maple Syrup to a Boil. Remove from heat and squash them with a fork. Let it cool.

-Divide Berries in 4 Glasses and fill up with Almond/Coconut mix.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Quinoa-Almond-Porridge

We have been blessed with an exceptionally warm October. Beautiful Indian Summer! But now it looks like it is starting to stay on the colder side. I do not enjoy the colder temperatures and often need something to warm myself up from the inside. What better way of doing just so on a chilly morning, is to enjoy a bowl of warm Porridge served with Blackberry Sauce. Usually I would use Oats but I had some Quinoa flakes left and I really like Almonds or any Nuts, so I mixed those together and-I have to say-I love this Porridge!

Porridge

• 1cup       Quinoa flakes
• 1/2cup   Almonds, ground
• 1cup       Water
• 1cup       Almondmilk, unsweetened
• 1 pinch  Sea Salt
• 3tbsp     Maple Syrup
•                 Cinnamon

Blackberry Sauce

• 2cups    Blackberries, frozen
• 2tbsp     Water
• 2tbsp     Maple Syrup

In a medium Saucepan mix up Water, Almondmilk, Quinoa, Almonds, Sea Salt and Maple Syrup. Bring to a boil, stir and let Porridge simmer on low heat for about 10 Minutes while stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in a sprinkle of Cinnamon.

In a small Saucepan bring Blackberries, Water and Maple Syrup to a boil, stir. Remove from heat.

Divide Porridge into 3 small bowls and serve with Blackberry Sauce.

 

I find Porridge very filling, therefore the small serving size. You can always double the ingredients. Enjoy!